Tevez return poses fresh challenge for Manchester City

London: There is a consensus opinion that Manchester City could really do with a player like Carlos Tevez right now. And, of course, they could. A hard-running striker who scores goals to take some of the pressure off Sergio Aguero is precisely the type they need.

Unfortunately, a player they could also specifically do without is Carlos Tevez. They require someone like him, not someone who is him.

Self-centred, self-serving, disruptive, high maintenance. Why would any club with eyes on the prize want to invite that trouble through the door?

No sooner had manager Roberto Mancini even hinted at the prospect of reconciliation, Tevez was attempting to undermine him on South American television. Mancini treated him like a dog. The supporters burnt his shirt. The club did not want the truth to be known.

Damage limitation

Rapid damage limitation was being attempted by his adviser, Kia Joorab-chian, prior to Tevez's return to Manchester on Tuesday, but we have heard it all before.

"What Carlos was explaining in his interview was how he felt back then," Joorab-chian said. No, he wasn't.

What Carlos was doing was creating another unnecessary problem for City at a crucial time in the season. We recognise the pattern. Carlos hands in a transfer request a month before the 2011 January transfer window; Carlos announces he wants out on the day the players return to pre-season training; Carlos plays up during City's biggest match in Europe in 41 years; Carlos decamps to Argentina midway through the club's first legitimate title challenge of the modern era.

Now this. Just at the point when there seemed to be a thaw in his relationship with Mancini, Carlos decides to heap more embarrassment on his manager and Manchester City. Why would anyone in their right mind draw him close again?

A bundle of pain lies within. City do not need it, just as they do not need the confrontation, or the distraction Tevez has become. After this latest insult, the message from City should be clear.

— Daily Mail